Florida Major Employers

By industry, the largest 4-digit rows in the 2025 BLS count of Florida jobs covered by unemployment insurance are restaurants, with 788,768 private jobs, private hospitals with 359,485 and public elementary and secondary schools with 322,071 local government jobs (BLS QCEW 2025).

The federal Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages (QCEW) reports Florida jobs by industry and by owner, federal, state, local or private, rather than by company name (BLS QCEW). The 2025 annual averages cover 9,914,411 jobs at 868,046 establishments in the 2025 annual averages. The industry names below come from the BLS QCEW industry titles (BLS industry titles).

The 322,071 local school jobs are reported under 82 QCEW establishments, and the 788,768 restaurant jobs under 42,435 establishments (BLS QCEW 2025). Private hospitals report 359,485 jobs at 1,143 Florida establishments.

Health care and social assistance has the most jobs of the private 2-digit sector rows in the 2025 Florida file, 1,374,246, with accommodation and food services at 1,059,594 (BLS QCEW 2025; BLS titles).

The file lists health care's over-the-year change as 53,142 jobs, or 4.0 percent (BLS QCEW). Professional, scientific and technical services had 762,717 jobs at an average annual pay of $114,382, and administrative and support and waste management services had 722,596, with an over-the-year change of minus 5,648 jobs in the file. Arts, entertainment and recreation had 276,186 Florida jobs, with a 4.2 percent over-the-year change in the file, and construction employed 655,646 at an average of $73,949.

Pay varies widely across these big Florida employers. Accommodation and food services averaged $35,168 a year in 2025 and restaurants alone $31,521, against $70,557 in health care and social assistance (BLS QCEW 2025). All private Florida jobs averaged $72,719.

The 2025 Florida file's total government row shows 1,099,769 jobs, with local governments at 718,561, the state at 222,878 and the federal government at 158,330 (BLS QCEW 2025).

Inside local government, elementary and secondary schools account for 322,071 Florida jobs and general government support for 245,174 (BLS QCEW). State colleges, universities and professional schools employ 74,197 people in Florida's state government column, and the federal postal service row (NAICS 4911) shows 36,604 jobs. Federal jobs averaged $99,963 in 2025.

Walt Disney World describes itself as Central Florida's largest employer, with 80,000 cast members in its employment fact sheet, and Publix, founded in Winter Haven in 1930, says it employs over 260,000 people across its chain (Walt Disney World; Publix).

These are the companies' own figures, not state counts. Disney's fact sheet says more than 53,000 cast members are represented by 8 collective bargaining agreements and lists starting rates of $19.00 an hour in merchandise and $23.00 in culinary and security roles (Disney fact sheet). Publix calls itself the largest employee-owned company in the United States, reports 2025 retail sales of $62.7 billion, and lists 897 of its 1,446 stores in Florida (Publix facts and figures). The Publix employee figure is company-wide; the facts page lists stores in eight states (a count of its state list) and gives no Florida-only headcount.

No FloridaCommerce or BLS page fetched for this guide ranks Florida employers by name, and the QCEW files publish industries and owners rather than companies (BLS QCEW). Disney's fact sheet adds that average tenure among its full-time professional, leadership and skilled cast members is 12 years and that more than 300 people apply to Walt Disney World every day (Disney fact sheet), while Publix describes itself as one of the 10 largest-volume supermarket chains in the country (Publix).

Among the private 4-digit rows of the 2025 Florida file with more than 100,000 jobs, computer systems design and related services shows the highest average pay, $151,905 across 138,413 jobs (BLS QCEW 2025; BLS titles).

Management of companies and enterprises follows at $149,540 across 138,813 jobs, then legal services (5411) at $128,708 across 113,683 jobs and depository credit intermediation (5221) at $109,846 across 122,769 jobs, by the same reading of the 2025 Florida file (BLS QCEW 2025; BLS titles).

Finance and insurance employs 458,036 Floridians at 45,276 establishments, and the information sector 152,926 (BLS QCEW). At the other end, restaurants averaged $31,521 a year in 2025, grocery and convenience retailers $32,460 and warehouse clubs, supercenters and other general merchandise retailers $35,613 (BLS QCEW 2025).

Yes: FloridaCommerce reports that Florida gained 59,800 jobs, seasonally adjusted, from September 2025 to September 2026 in its Current Employment Statistics program (FloridaCommerce CES).

The CES figures come from a monthly survey of Florida businesses and estimate nonagricultural jobs by place of work, with statewide industry data published both seasonally adjusted and not (FloridaCommerce). The QCEW file lists a 2025 over-the-year change of 77,920 covered Florida jobs, or 0.8 percent (BLS QCEW 2025).

The Florida Economic Estimating Conference, held July 17, 2026 and published by the Legislature's Office of Economic and Demographic Research (EDR), projects nonfarm employment of 9,985,000 jobs in the table's 2026 column, 10,002,000 in 2027, 10,048,000 in 2028 and 10,153,000 in 2029, seasonally adjusted (EDR Florida Economic Estimating Conference). Its December 2025 forecast row shows 10,093,000 jobs for 2026, 10,216,000 for 2027, 10,339,000 for 2028 and 10,473,000 for 2029. The same Florida tables forecast manufacturing at 426,000 jobs in 2026 and 410,000 in 2029, and construction at 651,000 and 670,000. The FloridaCommerce year-over-year gain and the EDR forecast describe different periods and are both official; the page reports each as published.

In the QCEW file, health care's 2025 over-the-year change is 53,142 jobs and administrative and support services' is minus 5,648 (BLS QCEW). Questions about the monthly Florida estimates go to FloridaCommerce at [email protected] (FloridaCommerce CES). Last verified: October 18, 2026, after the 2025 Florida QCEW annual file was re-read by owner, sector and 4-digit industry, and the BLS industry titles, the FloridaCommerce CES page, the July 17, 2026 EDR short-run tables, the Publix facts page and the Walt Disney World fact sheet were fetched again.